How a Planned 7 Hour Treatment Turned Into 55 Hours

July 5 - 10:45 pm

For right now, here's the short of it. I promise to bring more details later but I am just too tired right now.

It took this entire time, since 1:00 Tuesday, to bring her potassium level in range and get the Taxal flowing through the IP port. It seems that the Cisplatin has a tendency to destroy potassium in your system. However, it usually doesn't do it on the first round so they are looking into that. In the meantime, Nanc will be going in for daily hydration and potassium infusion as well for the next 3 days.

They will be looking into possible causes of what they called "potassium wasting." Suffice it to say that it kept bouncing around between 2.5 and 3.3 even though they were literally drowning her in potassium chloride drips. Normal level is between 3.5 and 4.5. Her base was 4.0 last week. Low levels can cause cardiac problems so we are going to have to watch it carefully.

We met with so many wonderful people today and I will bring you specifics on what I can remember in the days to come. Here are some highlights of the past 2 days:
- The new fellow, Dr. Lang was just amazing. She was upbeat and positive and really helped keep up Nanc's spirits.
- The head of the pain team who termed her pain as "drug induced peritonitis." When I asked for an explanation he re-phrased it for me - "It's a mother fucker." (No shit!)
- Dr. Lang recruited the nurse who teaches nurses how to access the IP ports to get her started today. Nanc wasn't too keen on the nurses on the floor who haven't done one in a couple of years. The event turned into a mini class attended by no less than 4 nurses.
- And last but not least was the entire nursing staff. In particular there was Sarah who was there when Nanc first came out of surgery. At first she thought she had recognized us but at around 1:00 today, she sort of burst into the room and said "I just remembered you from your surgery!" Even though she wasn't her assigned nurse, she helped out all day and was one of the students in the little IP port access class in room 3922...

There is so much more I could add but my eyes are getting heavy. I am going to end this post by asking that we all give our thoughts and prayers to Frank tonight. He found out today that his cancer has spread to his spine and has worsened in his liver and pelvis. When I talked to him today he told me it was just another bump in the road. Let's hope so...

hugs and kisses...